Metallic railway-tie.



' PATENI'ED SEPT. 19,1905.

W. E. STEED. METALLIG RAILWAY TIE.

APPLIOATION FILED no. as, 1904.

Inventor: WE. Steed, QM

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PATENT OFFICE. f

IVILLIAM E. STEED, OF NEAR REDKEY, INDIANA.

METALLIC RAILWAY-TIE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 19, 1905.

Application filed December 23, 1904:. Serial No. 238,040.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. STEED, a citizen of the United States, residing near the town of Redkey, in the county of Jay, State of Indiana, (whose post-oflice address is Redkey, Jay county, Indiana, R. F. D. No. 2,) have invented new and useful Improvements in Metallic Railway-Ties, of which the following is a specification, which when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof, will be found to be sufficiently clear and concise as to enable others skilled in the art to which this invention appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates, broadly, to new and useful improvements in metallic railway-ties, and has for its object, broadly speaking, the provision of simple and comparatively inexpensive railway-ties which will be practically indestructible and which will reduce to a minimum the danger of railway accidents, especially those which result from a defective or insecure road-bed-such, for instance, as the spreading of rails. A further object is to provide metallic railway ties or sleepers so constructed that railway-rails may be secured thereto without the employment of spikes or the like or without injury to the ties, at the same time allowing for the proper expansion and contraction of the rails and other parts, while at the same time makingrthe various attachments and, in fact, the railway as a whole more secure. A further object is to provide improvements in the construction of permanent ways that is to say, railways or tramwayswherein while the first cost may be somewhat in eX- cess of the present type. of construction, yet when the uniformity of the material is con,- sidered, the ease with which the way may be constructed by reason of its employment, and the almost total absence of future repairs and maintenance thereof, the added rigidity given to the track. and the increased smoothness of the vehicular traffic thereover, which latter will result in increased comfort to the traveling public, an increase in speed, if desired, and a saving in wear of the equipment of the road, it will be found a great saving will be made in a financial sense, as well as in the comfort and safety to the traveling public and to the personnel of the railway; and, finally, a specific object is to provide a metallic railway -tie which may be formed easily and cheaply from one piece of material, with simple and efiicient means for the securing of railway rails thereto, all substantially as shown in the drawings and which is hereinafter particularly pointed out and described.

Other particular objects and specific advantages of my invention will appear from an inspection of the accompanying drawings, will be developed in the course of the following specification, and will be set forth in the claims hereunto appended.

My invention consists, primarily, in a metallic railway-tie embodying in its construction new and useful features and details of construction and in relative disposition of the several constituent elements, as is particular] y described otherwhere in thisspecification, and in the legitimate combinations herein set forth.

One manner of carrying out this invention and that which in practice has been found to be the most desirable and efficient is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a top plan view ofa railway-tie constructed in accordance with my invention with a portion of two railway-rails thereon. Fig. 2 shows an end elevation of my inven: tion in connectionwith a railway-rail. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of my railway-tie, showing a pair of railway-rails thereon. Fig. 4 shows a cross-section of my railway-tie, as

' taken on the line X X of Fig. ,1, and Figs 5,

is a detail view showing isometrically one .of my rail-clamping members.

Similar characters denote like parts through: out the several views of the drawings.

With all of the above designated views :inmind I will now take up the description of my invention in concrete detail, which 'Iwill refer to and describe as briefly and compactly as I may.

In the drawingsthe characters .A andA-- designate two railway-rails laid parallel with v each other the required distance apart to allow a tiain to travel thereon in the usual manner.

The figure 1 denotes the base of my tie, which I prefer should have a flat under face, or the said under face may be corrugated or roughened in any manner to prevent lateral displacement. The upper surface of said base 1 I prefer to have made oval, whereby the base will have the greater thickness near its center and further increasing the strength thereof. Rising from the center of the upper surface of said base is the web 2, integral therewith and at right angles thereto, andextending out horizontally from each side of the ICC IIO

upper extremity of said web are the two oppositely-disposed flanges 3 and 3, integral with the web 2, forming the head of the tie, which head I prefer should have a relatively flat top or upper face, on which the rails are adapted to rest at right angles thereto. At the proper determined distance from the righthand end of the tie and near the outer edge of the flange 3 a vertical oblong aperture 3 is formed therethrough, as is shown in Fig. 1, and also at a proper determined distance from the left-hand end of the tie and near the outer edge of the flange 3" a vertical oblong aperture 3 is formed therethrough, as is shown also in Fig. 1.

The numerals Land 4: denote each an angleplate havingasubstantially square horizontal surface portion to rest on top of the head of the tie, as shown in Fig. 1, and a downwardly-extending portion tapering to a point, as is shown in Fig. 2. The inner edge portions of the horizontal parts of the plates are curved upward and: inward to form the respective lips a and a, which lips are adapted to engage over the outer flange portion of the base of the respective rails A and A, as is shown in Figs. 1 and 3. The said angleplates should be permanently or temporarily secured in place, as described, by means eachof a pair of rivets or bolts 5 5 for plate 4 and 6 6 for plate 4', which bolts or rivets are inserted in apertures formed through the plates 4: and L at points near the edge and near the lips a and a, respectively, whereby the inner lipped portions of the plates are held in contact with the face of the head of the tie, substantially as is indicated in Figs. 1 and- 3'. It will now be seen that the rails A and A may and then are slid apart until they engage said flanges, as shown in the drawings.

Now 1n order to secure the inner flanges of the base of the rails A and A, I provide a pair of identical devices as that shown in detail in Fig. 5, consisting of the bars 7 and 7', threaded on their outer end portions to receive the nuts 8 and 8 therearound, and near theinner ends they each have an upwardly and outwardly tapering dog 9 and 9' to engage the inner lower flanges of the rails, as is shown in the left-hand sides of Figs. 1 and 3'. The said dogs9 and 9' are extended up th-ro 'h the respective apertures 3 and 3 the bars 7 and 7 contacting with the under surface of the flanges of the head of the tie, the threaded portions of said bars being inserted through apertures formed therefor in the vertical portions of the respective angle-plates, with their respective nuts 8 and 8 adapted to be run thereon and contacted with the plates 4 and respectively, around said apertures there- By the employment of the above-described construction it will be apparent that by tightening on the nut, as 8, the dog 9' will be caused to engage over the inner edge of the rail, as is shown on the left in Figs. 1 and 3, or by loosening the nut, as nut 8', the dog 9' will release the flange of the rail, as is shown on the right in Figs. 1 and 3, thus allowing the rail to be removed or inserted.

By the employment of my invention the rails will be held firmly in position against any accidental displacement,while at the same time they are so secured that they may be quickly removed, if desired, by simply removing the nuts 8 and 8 and moving the dogs or l'ugs9 and 9 toward the center in their respective slots of the tie.

From the foregoing specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the construction and operation of my invention will be readily apparent without requiring further extenuated description, for the tie is exceedingly simple and may be manufactured at a small cost and will be practically indestructible.

While I have illustrated and described the best means now known to me for carrying out my invention, I desire it to be fully understood that I do not restrict myself to the exact details of construction shown and described or to the particular object stated, but

hold that any changes or variations in the structural features as would suggest themselves to the ordinary mechanic would clearly fall within the limits and scope of my invention.

Having now fully shown and described my invention and its intended operation and construction, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States of America, is be laid across the central portion of the tie 1. A metallic railway-tie comprising in its construction: the tie proper consisting of the base, a web, and oppositely-disposed flanges forming a head, with an oblong slot formed through each flange on opposite sides of the web, angle-plates extending over the upper corner portions of the tie with their inner edges forming lips to engage the rail-base;

means for securing said angle-plates to the tie; a device for each end portion of the tie adapted to engage the inner flange of the base of the rail and consisting each of a bar threaded on its outer end and contacted with the under face of the tie-flange with the threaded portion extending through an aperture therefor formed in the vertical portion of the angle-plate, a nut for the threaded portion of said bar, an upwardly and outwardly tapering dog integral with said bar and adapted to extend up through its respective aperture inthe head of the tie to engage the railbase, all substantially as shown-and described.

2. A metallic railway-tie having a flat top head supported by a central web and having elongated clamp-apertures therethrough, one oneach side of the web and located in the end portions of the head, the aperture on one side In testimony WhereofI have hereunto signed my name to thls specificatlon 1n the presence of tWo subsorlblng wltnesses.

WILLIAM E. STEED. Witnesses GEO. N. EDGER, DANIEL WILT. 

